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Tag Archives: storage

So in amidst of cleaning, I finally sorted out my scrap paper box and got it organized. I think that is the second hardest thing to organized in my little art space. Stamps are still number one. However you will be happy to hear that I finished going through the wooden stamps and gave the ones that I don’t used anymore to my friend J. She really loves me now. But I digress again.

So last Monday, I picked up the scrap paper box as I have done before several times. Except this time, something happened. I pulled a muscle in my back. Ouch is right. So after my shower, I took a couple of muscle relaxers and the worst case with them, I ended up talking to furniture.

Well not this time, I ended up being sick as a dog for the next three days. Although I am kind of thinking that it might have been stress that made me sick. I have been dealing with stress of my boyfriend’s daughter health problems, orders and now with Halloween coming up. And the biggest stress is the upcoming sales in Bentley. As usual, I have that little voice in my head telling me that I don’t have enough. I know, I know, “Lesley, stop listening to the voices in your head.”

Finally Friday, I dragged myself out of bed and went out to pick up some rubber cement for mail art. My back is still sore, but very SLOWLY getting better. It is testing my patience again. And I can’t work on my cards or albums until my back is better because I am constantly bending down and picking up stuff. I can however knit and crochet so I am working on a scarf right now. But I want to paint and do some mail art. I know, I know, I am never happy.

I assumed that my last post was in May, not March. Opps. Once again, I can make flimsy excuses saying that my computer had a bug, then I had one. Or I finally got down and dirty and cleaned up my work space. I am still cleaning, but I got about half done. I threw out and donate a great chunk of out. Donate as I gave it to my friend J. I mentioned it to my boyfriend and he wondered if she would be so grateful that she would kiss me on the lips. Pervert. And no, she didn’t, she hugged me.

I still have several more canvas boxes to sort out. Which I am kind of dragging my feet. When I go through them, I find things that I haven’t used in 5 years and have no intention of using. So why I am keeping them? Get rid of them and make stuff for the new toys.

Except that little voice in my head is telling me, “It’s so pretty.”

De-cluttering is definitely a battle between the brain and the heart.

And of course, it doesn’t help with the weather being so hot with the temperatures reaching 32. And of course, our air conditioner dies. Good news is now working, which means I can’t be on my computer because as you know, it blows cold air at me, drying out my eyes and giving me an ear ache.

I am still working on the Cheap Art Challenge which is giving me a run for my money. I honestly thought that this was going to be a simple, and relaxing challenge. Oh hell no.

My first attempts got wreck because of the supplies. And here am I rooting for cheap supplies, saying it is the skill, not the supplies that make you an artist. Third one, I spilled paint water all over it. I am not giving up on it, but at the same time, I feel like I am hitting my head against the brick wall.

I know the big reason is the subject that I am using a photo from someone I admired. And he see the works which it is kind of adding more pressure to me. I know, he has no intention to do that and he is ok if I don’t use his photo.

But I did finally finish this mini elephant photo album.

There is some good news, my boyfriend’s child is finally out of the hospital and doing good. In fact, she is being a little devil, (in a good way). When she was released, I was in the middle of 3 deadlines where I told him that I didn’t have time to spend with him. She found out and asked if that means that he get to spend more time with her and her sisters. That little sneak.

There is more. I gave her a get well package which included this. Thank goodness, my friend J was a former nurse which was a tremulous help in this, telling me of what was accept and not accept in hospitals.

Her sister saw it and asked my boyfriend if I can make her a monkey. And of course, he said yes. And the way he asked was strange. We were talking and he said “(Name) like monkeys.” And then I said, “Of course, they are a lot easier to take care than elephants.” A few seconds later, I asked him, “Am I missing something?” That is when he told me about that she wanted me to make her a monkey. It is coming along slowly, except I ran into the nightmare that every crocheter and knitter fears.

I ran out of yarn. I went to several stores trying to find that shade of brown. I found it online, but I don’t have a credit card. My boyfriend told me that he will take care of it, and until I get the yarn, there is nothing else I can do.

Oh nuts, I can’t. Maybe I can fixed it later. I still knee deep in spring cleaning. This weekend, I went through all of my old sketches, recycling 80% of my sketches. If you do not mind me tooting my own horn, my skills have improved greatly since I started. As well I started storing my sketches through a different system. And my binder full of knitting and crochet was bursting at the seams. So that divided up into smaller and manageable binders.

And yet, my place still looks like a tornado had hit it. Terrific. The only bad part of this is that there are two big boxes that I have to go through. They are my cardstock and pattern paper. The big problem is that they are super heavy and I still have a bad back. Before I used to have this old footstool where I was able to placed the heavy boxes and move them around. But we threw out the footstool so I am kind of screwed. I probably can figure out another way.

The other bad part is that I am having one heck of a time of getting my canvas boxes label. Apparently, the cute chalk labels that I made for them doesn’t work. I cannot find a glue that works. Unless I go with crazy glue which oh heavens to Betsy, that is a mess itself.

Other then that, things have been quiet. I have to come up with some ideas for Easter cards, but I have time. Unfortunately enough time, to figure out the papers. Oh goody. It is not that I don’t mind the work, it is the back pain that I do mind.

I thought I show you of how I stored my ribbons. Which itself is odd considering that I am going to be moving in a few weeks and I may have to change it. Anyway, I thought what the heck. I know that there are a few scrapbookers would store their ribbons on curtain rods or even installed rods on their walls. Which itself is a good idea. But first of all, I am petite, I cannot reach on top of my curtains without using a ladder. Second at this moment, I do not own the house that I am currently living in therefore, I am not allowed to drilled holes into the walls.

I found this tutorial online and for the love of goatcheese and sour pickles, I cannot find it again to show youBut what this person had done with her ribbons was absolutely brilliant. This is how she stored the ribbons.

As you can see, it fits perfectly in a plastic tote.

Which fitted nicely in my drawer with a small plastic bin for scraps of ribbons that I do not have the heart to throw away.

What you do is take cardboard. Which can be back of scrapbook pads of paper, cereal boxes or whatever you can find. As long it is clean, clean as no oil stains. I can’t tell you what size to cut it down because every plastic container is different. In my case, I used cardstock paper that I knew that I would never use. I alpologized for the neon color, but I didn’t realized it was so bright when I saw the pictures. In this case, I glue several pieces together to make it more sturdier.

I then wrapped it up using brown wrapping paper, the one you use for parcels. There is a reason of why you need to wrap the cardboard which I will get to. Now the reason that I used the brown paper is because the color is neutral. You can use wrapping paper, but I caution you because if you wrapped ribbon again Dora the Explorer wrapping paper, the colors may clash and your eyes will probably go wonky. Not to mention, I do not know if the colors from the wrapping may bleed into the ribbon. So instead of a white ribbon, you might have a tie dye ribbon which is cool itself, but if you need a white ribbon for a card or a scrapbook page, you are kind of in trouble.

I then wrapped the ribbon around the rectangles. I taped the end of the ribbons the paper first before winding it around to make it more secure. You do not hurt the ribbon. This is where you need to use the paper, because after it is wrapped, you stick pins into the rectangles to secured. The pins go through the brown paper. However in some cases like the twine string, I had to use tape, because it was too fine or too stiff for a pin to go through.

As you can see, I was able to wrapped many ribbons on one rectangle.

In the beginning, I tried to keep it in the colors together on one rectangle, but as time gone by, I used up the ribbons and replaced it with the new. It basically took me an afternoon to wrapped the paper and wrapped the ribbons. And I did have a few empty ones in case of shopping spree.

Which has worked wonderfully for me in the past, in fact, I may keep it the way it is when I get into my new place.